Tonight the wife and I had champagne (well cheap CA stuff that subs as the real thing), the 230SL actually ran! After about 14 months of putting together all the bits from the boxes of parts that came with the car, I got it going for the first time. After about 2 minutes, I turned it off and was able to restart even. I have never heard one run. Now I have to let it run long enough to re torque the head, fix a leak in the lift pump area, and maybe go for a spin.
The reason for this email is to THANK all of you for your help and patience. I could have never done this without the group of you on this site, in particular on this thread. Thanks so much.
Maybe I'll have the rest sorted out in time for the next Blacklick.
Ron
PS there's still much to do, put in radio, change engine supports, fix canvas top, put right window into tracks, fix clock, and so on. But hearing it run was wonderful.